A certain interpretation being admitted by the Court, there could be no charge of dishonest evasion against those who, in such a way, publicly declared their construction of the words. Yet they really substituted another declaration for that which was required by the law; and those who allowed the substitution actually set the law aside. The law was no doubt unjust; and to correct the injustice an unnatural sense was put upon its terms. But notwithstanding this kind of sophistry—so often practised even by people who are straightforward in other ways—the pledge of obedience which the Nonconformists gave, sufficed to show the intense cruelty of treating such men as if they had been rebels.[494]
The greater number of Nonconformists regarded the subject in a different light from that in which it was viewed by Bates and Howe; and not being able, with their convictions, to acquiesce in a forced construction of the formulary, they refused to adopt it, whilst they also still resolved to preach the Gospel: thus following the example of the Apostles, who said, "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye." The essence of the whole question as to the explanation of formularies, and the course which conscience dictates in cases where formularies are felt to be objectionable, was involved in the controversy raised by the Five Mile Act; and was a subject of casuistry too tempting for Richard Baxter not to touch, even if practical considerations and personal interests had not prompted him to engage in the inquiry. Several closely-printed folio pages are devoted by him to an examination of the arguments on both sides—the result of his cogitations being that he himself records a resolution, not to take the oath at all. He looked upon the whole proceeding as unrighteous; and pronounced the statute a "history," adapted to make Nonconformists appear to posterity as if they were disloyal. He was moved to draw up a defence on their behalf, but, on reading it to some of his friends, they persuaded him to throw it aside, and submit in silence. "The wise statesmen," adds the simple-hearted theologian—and the remark involves a just satire on the way in which the world often judges—"laughed at me, for thinking that reason would be regarded by such men as we had to do with,—and would not exasperate them the more."[495]
FIVE MILE ACT.
Those who declined to take the oath were either subject to fine, or had to dwell in such places only as were allowed by the Act, such compulsory residence, in a number of cases, rendering necessary an expensive and inconvenient removal. Baxter and Owen, who were living in London, repaired, the one to Acton, the other to Ealing. Many in the Northern part of the country went to Manchester, Bolton, Sheffield, and Mansfield, which were called "Cities of Refuge"—inasmuch as they were, at that time, towns without corporations. Oliver Heywood left Coley, not to go so far as many did, for he only crossed the hills to Denton—"Yet it was the weariest, most tedious journey," he remarks, "I have had that way, which I have gone many hundred times, but scarce ever with so sad a heart, in so sharp a storm of weather."[496]
1665.
Philip Henry refused to take the oath, and his case proved one of peculiar hardship, for Broad Oak, where he lived, was but four reputed miles from Worthenbury, where he had preached, although upon measurement the distance turned out to be above five miles. Reputed miles were, by the authorities, counted instead of measured miles, and consequently the good man was compelled to leave his family for a time, "and to sojourn among his friends, to whom he endeavoured, wherever he came, to impart some spiritual gift."[497]
Several ministers in the Northern Counties escaped the penalties of the Conventicle and Five Mile Acts. This anomaly may be accounted for, in part, by remembering the scanty population in those districts, and the impossibility, under any circumstances, of maintaining such a vigilant oversight of the inhabitants as to detect all instances of disobedience. But the comparative exemption of some neighbourhoods in the North from the vigorous oppression experienced elsewhere, is also in part to be attributed to the influence of three noblemen who were Lord-Lieutenants, respectively, of the Counties of York, of Lancaster, and of Derby. The Lord-Lieutenant of Yorkshire was no other than the notorious Duke of Buckingham, who had married Lord Fairfax's daughter. Vicious and worthless as the Duke was, he had strong opinions in favour of toleration, if for no higher reason, at least from dislike to Clarendon's policy, and perhaps, too, from the influence of family connections.[498] This erratic Peer had engaged a Nonconformist minister as his chaplain, and when his mother-in-law, Lady Fairfax, died, he endeavoured to arrange for the funeral sermon being publicly preached by this gentleman.[499] The Lord-Lieutenant of Lancashire was the Earl of Derby; and of him, Newcome, the Presbyterian minister of Manchester, tells several stories indicative of his liberality. The Rector of Walton, a Heywood of Heywood, on one occasion asked the Earl to put down a Conventicle at Toxteth Park. "What did the people do there?" he asked. "Preach and pray," was the answer. "If that be all," replied the Earl, "why should they be restrained; will you neither preach nor pray yourselves, nor suffer others to preach and pray?" The Lord-Lieutenant of the County of Derby was the Earl of Devonshire, and he also disliked the persecuting measures.
NONENFORCEMENT OF LAW.
Where no leniency was intended, the law, in some cases, failed in its effect. This called forth the lamentation of certain zealots. "I am bound to say," remarks one of this class, "nothing was prosecuted at the last quarter sessions against the Quakers, nor the rest of that diabolical rabble—although several bills of indictment have been framed and presented at sessions against that viperous brood,—yet by reason most of the grand jury are fanatics, the bills were not found, and that they have several places of meeting will manifestly appear.... The honest souls, especially Church officers and others, are much afflicted to be reviled and affronted in the performance of their offices by the bold faction.... The fanatics abound in good horses, and seem to be ready for mischief; but if half a score such as might be named were secured in our castles, and made to give good security for their conformity to the King's Majesty and the Church, doubtless it would abate their pride, and, it may be, confound their devices."[500]
1666.